A letter from the monks of Malmesbury ()

Translated letter:

[Another letter, to the empress.] To the most glorious empress and their lady [ruler] Matilda, convent of the brothers of Malmesbury, greetings and loyal prayers of those serving God and St. Mary and St. Aldhelm. The royal piety and holy religion of true piety of your most revered mother, queen Matilda, gave us cause long after her death to expect no less from your goodness than from hers. And just now that truth satisfied our hope in this, because you are the trunk of all rectitude, the origin of all clemency, the state of all mercy with the king, we thank God with all our prayers. And justly so! For when she was alive and helped in almost all our affairs and gave solace for the most part in all things and endowed our church with a royal dowry, we were cherished richly by her mercy. Indeed, religion shone abundantly in that government, where the fullness of all charity excelled. But infamous Fortune, envying the successes of our church struck us all the more sharply with pain and sorrow at her end, the more that the place had thrived in glory and honor in that government. And the consolation of hope scarcely gave breath to our desolation with your happy arrival in England, most excellent lady, for it is quite fitting that you, empress, rule where your mother, rightly to be revered, ruled as distinguished queen. Particularly since nothing can be reproached in her life except that she left that church without a rector, most justly to be corrected by the wisdom of such a daughter, where the ignorance of the most blessed mother could hertofore be reproached. For which we seize on your rule as much as we can in our spirits and with this book, which we had written at the command of our lady [queen Matilda] about the deeds of the kings of the English, we submit ourselves and our possessions to your royal intercession. This kind of book used to be written in antiquity for kings and queens to instruct them in life by example, to follow the triumphs of some and avoid the misfortunes of others, to imitate the wisdom of some and scorn the folly of others. Which was not unknown to your mother when she, that most holy spirit, commissioned the writings. Having begun to speak with us about most blessed Aldhelm, in whose consanguinity she took well-deserved pride, she investigated his genealogy. When she got the response, that it was the same as the kings of Wessex, she asked that we set forth his whole family in a little book, asserting that it was not unworthy to be honored as in the old way with a volume of the deeds of the English kings. Nor could our humility deny what such royal authority willed. We therefore had the required document prepared with the list and names and years of the kings of the English. Then, indeed, allured by the desire for a larger narration with easy sweetness she prevailed on us to do a full history of her ancestors. But we had scarcely begun when Fortune, envying the success of England, suddenly dedicated her, as we hope, to the seats of immortality. Distressed by sorrow, we decided to abjure the zeal of the pen, when we saw that the exhorter of our studies had left us. Then both the request of friends to break the silence of the earlier time, and the usefulness of the thing made it seem, as it was, unworthy that the memory of such men be buried, that their deeds die away. Now this book can be sent to no mortal more justly than to you, since it is all about your ancestors and how powerfully the imperial artificer [God] brought your race up to you. In it you will be able to discern that none of those memorialized in this book, not king or queen, awaited more royally or splendidly than you the rights of the hereditary kingdom of the English. Let your imperial mercy, therefore, receive this little gift and with our gift, dominion over us. We also charge you, through the bearer of the book, that you imperially hear and take pains to show your mercy to us, for the soul of your mother and all your ancestors. May your imperial dignity thrive.

Original letter:

Alia epistola ad imperatricem. Gloriossime imperatrici et domine sue Mathildi cetus fratrum Malmesberie deo et sancte Marie sanctoque Aldelmo servientium salutes et fideles orationes. Regalis pietas et vere pietatis sancta religio reverentissime matris vestre, Mathildis regine, iamdudum post eius discessum nos premonuere, nil minus de vestra quam de ipsius bonitate sperare. Et quia spei nunc pene satisfecit rei veritas in hoc, quod sitis apud regem nostrum totius rectitudinis stipes, totius clementie origo, totius misericordie status, gratias deo votis omnibus exhibemus. Et iuste quidem! Cum enim ipsa vivens tot pene nostro seculo subveniret et in eius pietate fere omnium penderet solatium nostramque regali dote possideret ecclesiam, uberius nos eius misericordia fovebamur. Quippe ipsius regimine ibi abundanter fulgebat religio, ubi totius caritatis preminebat plenitudo. Infamis igitur Fortuna talibus nostre ecclesie successibus invidens tanto nos acrius affecit eius fine dolor et merore, quanto familiarius eius regimine pollebat ipse locus gloria et honore. Et vix tante desolationi nostre respiravit spei consolatio felicis adventus vestri in Angliam, prestantissima domina, quia satis deceret vos imperatricem dominari, [vel ubi] unde mater vestra merito veneranda, insignis regina, dominabatur. Maxime vero, cum de vita eius nil aliud reprehendi possit, nisi quod ipsam ecclesiam sine rectore dimiserit, iustissimum est tam potentis filie sapientia corrigi, quo beatissime matris ignorantia actenus potuit reprehendi. Quapropter dominationem vestram, in quanto possumus, animo rapimus et hoc libro, quem iussu domine nostre de Anglorum regum gestis scribere fecimus, nos et nostra regie advocationi vestre submittimus. Solebant sane huiusmodi libri regibus sive reginis antiquitus scribi, ut quasi ad vite sue exemplum eis instruerentur aliorum prosequi triumphos, aliorum vitare miserias, aliorum imitari sapientiam, aliorum contemnere stulticiam. Quod beatissimam matrem vestram non latebat, cum eius sanctissimus animus adeo litterarum negociis operam dedisset. Semel igitur nobiscum inito sermone de beatissimo Aldelmo, cuius se consanguieam non immerito gloriabatur, seriem eius prosapie sciscitata est. Acceptoque responso, quod eadem esset, que regum Westsaxonum fuisset, rogavit, ut totam eius progeniem brevi sibi libello disponeremus, se non indignam asserens more antiquo volumine gestorum regum Anglorum honorari. Nec potuit nostra negare humilitas, quod tam imperiosa volebat auctorias. Exigua igitur scedula seriem et nomina simul et annos regum Anglorum complecti fecimus. Tum vero grandiuscule narracionis illecta desiderio facile dulcedine, qua pollebat, effecit, ut plenam de antecessoribus eius meditari fecissemus historiam. Maius itaque moveri fecimus de regibus opus profuturm, ut dicebat, illorum noticie, sue glorie, nostre ecclesie utilitati et fame. Sed vix imperatis institeramus, cum illam repente Fortuna profectibus Anglie invidens immortalitatis, ut speramus, sedibus dedicavit. Quo merore consternati decrevimus stili abiurare studium, cum videremus exisse de medio hortatricem studiorum. Enimvero procedente tempore rupere silentium tum amicorum petitio, tum rei utilitas, quia videbatur et erat indignum, ut tantorum virorum sepeliretur memoria, inmorerentur gesta. Nunc autem liber iste, cum totus de vestris tractetur progenitoribus et quam potenter rerum opifex imperiale genus vestrum ad vos usque perduxerit, nulli mortalium iustius quam vobis mitti potest. In eo etiam experiri potestis, quod nullus eorum, quorum liber presens continet memoriam, nec rex aliquis nec regina aliqua regalius vel splendidius vobis Anglorum regni hereditarii iura expectaverit. Suscipiat igitur imperialis clementia vestra exiguum munus et munere nostro dominationem nostri. Preterea, que vobis per libri latorem mandamus, pro anima matris vestre et antecessorum vestorum omnium imperialiter audite et nobis misericordiam impendere curate. Valeat imperialis vestra dignatio.

Historical context:

Letters were sent in the same period to Matilda and to her uncle David, king of Scotland, from the monks of Malmesbury which acknowledge her claim to the English crown with enthusiasm. Asking David to commend their message and the book to the empress, they present to her William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum Anglorum, which provides models for the empress to follow in the footsteps of her illustrious ancestors.

Printed source:

E. Könsgen, 'Zwei unbekannte Briefe zu den Gesta Regum Anglorum des Wilhelm von Malmesbury,' Deutsches Archiv, 31 (1975) p213-14